With Michael Carter-Williams' decision made, the attention of Syracuse basketball now turns to C.J. Fair, next year's probable star, at least if he decides to return to school.

Fair enjoyed an excellent, consistent, reliable college season, and an impressive NCAA Tournament, an effort that's led to some debate whether he too, should follow his teammate and declare for the NBA Draft.

Fair said he's looking into it after last Saturday's Final Four loss.

"I mean, that's not something I'm worried about after a loss like this," Fair said. "Of course, you think about the NBA and stuff like that, but I don't know if it's my time yet or not."

Fair doesn't have too much time to figure out if it is his time. Syracuse will likely know by Tuesday.

Here's a timeline of the early-entry process and what lies ahead for Fair and any other player who thinks about heading to the NBA early.

April 10 — The deadline to apply for an assessment from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee

Fair applied for an assessment of his skills from the committee after Syracuse's season officially ended. The assessment is considered by some to be a fairly reliable assessment of where a player will be taken in the NBA Draft.

Led by Stu Jackson, a group of NBA general managers, assistant general managers and vice presidents of player personnel put together an assessment of each player that applies to the committee. There are many who believe the assessment errs on the conservative side, preferring to encourage players to stay in school rather than risk encouraging a rash decision.

Darren Heitner, a sports lawyer in Miami, said there's no reason any underclassman considering the draft shouldn't take advantage of this opportunity. This assessment does not affect a college athlete's eligibility. The athlete can still return to college without penalty.

April 15 — The deadline to receive assessment from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee

Since Syracuse's season ended late, Fair would likely receive his assessment close to this deadline. Even if Fair put his name in to the Undergraduate Advisory Committee at the last possible moment, he'd get his assessment by phone on April 15. While it could leave as little as a day to ponder a crucial life decision, Fair would use this time to discuss the draft with his parents, his coaches at Syracuse and anyone else he trusts.

Technically, the only other permissible information exchange allowed by the NBA would come from the general manager of NBA teams through Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim. While Fair can't be part of these conversations, Boeheim is allowed to relay what he is told.

Despite the rules, information on draft prospects is usually exchanged by members of the basketball community and people acquainted with the player throughout the year. Word travels through high school coaches, AAU coaches, personal trainers or anyone with connections in the basketball world. This can create confusion, though, as people with different agendas, or with questionable amounts of knowledge, offer advice.

April 16 — NCAA Early Entry Withdrawal Deadline

If Fair does enter the NBA Draft he'd have until Tuesday to remove his name if he wants to continue playing college basketball. The NCAA moved this date up in 2012 "to help keep student-athletes focused on academics in the spring term and to give coaches a better idea of their roster for the coming year before the recruiting period is closed," according to the organization.

Unfortunately, it costs athletes the opportunity to attend tryouts for teams and get more feedback on their abilities, something that was prevalent in previous years and often referred to as "testing the waters."

In 2011, for instance, athletes had until May 8 to withdraw. In years prior to that, it was even later. For players whose teams reach the Final Four or go deep into the NCAA Tournament like Syracuse did, the new date leaves very little time to focus on gathering information.

Almost all players who don't withdraw their names by April 16 will remain in the NBA Draft. Some, like Creighton's Doug McDermott, are ignoring this and are taking their time making an educated decision, a course of action that Heitner actually advocates.

April 28 – NBA Early Entry Draft Deadline

While it's unusual for players to declare for the NBA Draft between the 16th and this date, they still can. Waiting until this point would allow Fair to gather more opinions on his draft prospects and make a more educated decision. If he hears that his NCAA Tournament performance has significantly raised his stock as teams break down the film, he could still decide to leave. Unfortunately, declaring at this point would also cost him his NCAA eligibility immediately.

May 1 – The list of early-entry candidates is officially released by the NBA

Teams are now allowed to begin making direct contact with undergraduate athletes for the first time. This begins the process of setting up individual workouts and conducting interviews that can significantly alter a players' stock. It's a process that lasts up until the draft. Before 2012, Fair and Carter-Williams would have been able to go through part of this process, gather more-educated opinions from teams on in-person visits and then make their decision.

June 17 – NBA Early-Entry Withdrawal Deadline

While the NCAA deadline is the one that matters to most players, Fair would theoretically have until this date to pull his name from the draft. A player can only enter the draft once in their life, so they want to make it count. Pulling out between the college deadline and this point would severely limit an athlete's options but not eliminate them. Fair could still spend the year working out with a personal trainer or playing in Europe and enter the NBA Draft another time.

June 27 – NBA Draft

No explanation needed. It's the night that countless college basketball players have seen their dreams come true. For others, it's an evening of harsh reality, when they realize poor advice has provided them a difficult road in professional basketball.